codyg1985’s Think Tank

The more and more I read about Barack Obama, the more I liked about him. He champions net neutrality. He supports funding education and health care. He wants to bring our troops home, and he says it without being a hypocrite. I attended a Barack Obama rally in Birmingham, AL in January right before the Super Tuesday primaries, and I liked him even more.

Unfortunately, there is a big dealbreaker for Obama that calls my support for him into question. NASA currently is developing the next vehicles and support systems for a return to the Moon and later to Mars.  Those systems will replace the aging Space Shuttle. As it stands now, this system, called the Constellation and Ares programs, will become operational around 2015, five years after the Space Shuttles are retired. That is a five year gap in which we have no way to send a human to low earth orbit, let alone anywhere beyond. Barack Obama wishes to delay the Ares and Contellation programs by five years in order to fund education:

Barack Obama’s early education and K-12 plan package costs about $18 billion per year. He will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government. The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years, using purchase cards and the negotiating power of the government to reduce costs of standardized procurement, auctioning surplus federal property, and reducing the erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office, and closing the CEO pay deductibility loophole.

That does not sit well with me. At all.

Education is on life support in this country. It needs fixing. However, cutting NASA to fund it is simply the wrong thing to do. NASA has always operated on a budget that just barely keeps up with inflation; however, the return on the investment that comes from NASA programs far exceeds that of any other government agency. Let’s be honest, NASA does have a bit of a bad rap since most good programs go ignored by the media while mishaps get all the attention (but that’s another discussion). Going back to the Moon will be the shot in the arm that NASA needs to not only recruit more employees, but inspire many young children to study science and mathematics. Take that inspiration away, and what is there left to inspire them? What will be there to inspire kids to follow their dreams? Maybe that can be taught somehow under Mr. Obama’s education plan.

A lot of people are upset as it is because after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010, we will be relying on the Russian Soyeuz in order to deliver humans to and from the International Space Station.  Delay Ares and Constellation, then the Russians or even the Chinese will hold the keys to human space flight while we sit back and watch our space program cycle around the drain in the sink.

Mr. Obama has said that NASA is “no longer associated with inspiration.” If the Ares and Constellation programs are delayed, then how exactly will that change?  I agree that right now NASA isn’t exactly associated with inspiration, but my question is what do you, Mr. Obama, plan to do about it? Cutting funding and changing the NASA vision once again will put yet another nail in the coffin of our space program. There will be a lot of inspiration when China makes it to the moon and plants their flag there.

Until Mr. Obama lays out a detailed space plan, I support no candidate for President.